"I felt pretty confident, but when I was in the limo [driving up to the proposal site], I thought 'it's too early for a proposal -- they usually do this at sunset,'" O'Brien, 28, told Philbin and Ripa of the moments before Womack got on bended knee in Cape Town, South Africa.

After being dumped by the Austin-based bar owner, O'Brien -- who slapped Womack on the show's premiere on behalf of "every woman in America" -- knew she had to keep calm.